Mississippi Paystub Generator

Reading a Mississippi pay stub, line by line

A Mississippi pay stub has exactly one state line — the state income tax — and its rate drops every January by law. Here is what each line means in 2026:

MS State Income Tax ("MS SIT", "MS Withholding", "State Tax – MS"). Mississippi taxes the first $10,000 of taxable income at 0% and everything above it at 4.0% in 2026 (Miss. Code § 27-7-5, as amended by HB 1 of 2025). Before the brackets apply, a single filer subtracts a $2,300 standard deduction and a $6,000 personal exemption ($12,000 married, $8,000 head of family, plus $1,500 per dependent and $1,500 each for age 65+ or blindness). Put together, the first $18,300 of a single worker's wages carries no Mississippi tax at all. The rate was 4.4% in 2025 and falls to 3.75% in 2027, 3.5% in 2028, 3.25% in 2029, and 3.0% in 2030.

How the withholding is set. You file Form 89-350, the Mississippi Employee's Withholding Exemption Certificate — not the federal W-4, which Pub 89-700 says "will not supply the proper information" for Mississippi. Line 1 (single) claims the $6,000 exemption; line 4 adds $1,500 per dependent; line 7 lets you add a flat extra amount per check. Your employer reads the withholding from DOR wage-bracket tables that already build in the standard deduction and the $10,000 zero bracket, and any wages above the top of the table are withheld at a flat 4% — the same rate you owe. No 89-350 on file means your employer withholds as if you claimed $0 — on $60,000 that is $240 a year in extra withholding you only get back at filing.

Bonuses and commissions. Mississippi has no flat supplemental rate. Paid with your regular wages, the bonus is withheld on the combined amount; paid separately, it is aggregated with your last regular paycheck and the difference withheld — capped at the top rate you are expected to reach, 4% in 2026. Tips are taxable and withheld on like other wages.

What you will NOT see in 2026: a city or county income tax (no Mississippi local government levies one); a state disability or paid-family-leave premium (Mississippi has neither program); an employee unemployment contribution (MDES: "Unemployment Insurance Tax is paid by the employer"); or a workforce-training assessment. There is no separate "standard deduction" line either — the $2,300 is absorbed into the withholding tables.

Plus the federal lines on every US stub: federal income tax, Social Security (6.2% up to $184,500 in 2026), and Medicare (1.45%, plus 0.9% on wages over $200,000).

Mississippi paycheck facts — 2026

What you actually take home in Mississippi (2026 estimates)

Estimated for a single filer taking the standard deduction, including federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, and Mississippi state income tax (statutory liability after the $2,300 standard deduction and $6,000 personal exemption). No local tax or employee-paid state program is included because Mississippi has none:

Where the money goes at $60,000: Mississippi state tax is $1,668 — just 2.8% of gross. Federal income tax ($5,020) and FICA ($4,590) take the other 16%. Because the DOR withholding tables build in the same deduction, exemption, and zero bracket, and the excess-over-table rule is the same 4% you owe, a single-job filer with an 89-350 on file should land within rounding of $0 refund or balance due.

The number shrinks every January: the same $60,000 earner paid $1,835 in Mississippi tax in 2025 (4.4%) and will pay $1,564 in 2027 (3.75%) — a $271 drop over two years without changing a thing.

Methodology: 2026 federal brackets and $16,100 standard deduction (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32), FICA per SSA, Mississippi rates under Miss. Code § 27-7-5 as amended by HB 1 of 2025 (0% to $10,000, 4.0% above) after the $2,300 standard deduction and $6,000 personal exemption (Department of Revenue tax-rates schedule and Pub 89-700, tables effective January 1, 2026). Estimates only — your withholding depends on your W-4/Form 89-350, dependents, credits, and pre-tax benefits.

What Mississippi jobs pay (BLS, May 2025)

Mississippi's median hourly wage across all occupations is $19.29 — 21% below the national median of $24.51 — and the mean annual wage is $50,810 against $69,770 nationally. The state's waiters and waitresses earn a median of $10.27 an hour with tips included, which is what a $2.13 cash wage produces in practice. Low wages meet a low, falling tax: a registered nurse at the state median ($77,090) pays about $2,352 in Mississippi tax in 2026, and $147 less in 2027.

Mississippi's workforce in numbers

• 2.95 million residents, civilian labor force of 1.28 million, unemployment 3.6% (Census 2025 estimate; BLS, July 2026 preliminary)
• 253,350 self-employed (nonemployer) businesses (Census, 2023) — about one for every 12 residents, and 4.2 times the number of businesses with employees
• 956,079 people on employer payrolls at 60,465 establishments, earning $45.5 billion a year (Census County Business Patterns, 2023)
• Mean annual wage: $50,810 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)

Mississippi pay rules — the answers people actually need

Final paycheck: next regular payday, whether you quit or were fired — but that is a federal rule, not a Mississippi one. No Mississippi statute sets a final-paycheck deadline for either situation. The state's only wage-timing law, Miss. Code § 71-1-35, governs regular paydays at large manufacturers and public-service corporations and says nothing about termination. Under the federal FLSA, wages for your last pay period are due on the next regular payday. Unused vacation or PTO is paid out only if your employer's policy or your contract says so — there is no state rule.

Pay frequency: at least twice a month, but only for two kinds of employer. Miss. Code § 71-1-35 requires manufacturers with 50 or more employees and every public-service corporation to pay "as often as once every two (2) weeks or twice during each calendar month, or on the second and fourth Saturday", covering work performed up to 10 days before payday (15 days for public-service corporations). Executive, administrative, and professional employees are excluded. Retail stores, offices, restaurants, and smaller manufacturers have no state pay-frequency requirement — weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, and monthly are all lawful.

Is a pay stub required? No. Mississippi has no statute requiring an itemized wage statement. The federal FLSA requires your employer to keep payroll records for three years (29 CFR Part 516) but not to hand you a stub. Most employers issue one anyway, and every employer must give you a W-2 by January 31 showing your wages and Mississippi tax withheld.

Minimum wage: $7.25, and it is Congress's number, not Jackson's. Mississippi has no state minimum wage law; employers covered by the FLSA pay the federal $7.25 an hour, unchanged since July 24, 2009. Tipped employees get a $2.13 cash wage plus tips that must bring them to $7.25; workers under 20 can be paid $4.25 for their first 90 days. Nothing is scheduled to change unless Congress acts.

Who enforces this? Nobody in state government. Mississippi has no state labor department or wage-and-hour agency; MDES says minimum wage, overtime, and child-labor issues are "enforced by federal agencies and not by MDES". Unpaid wages go to the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division or to a civil suit on the wage agreement.

Nonresidents and commuters. Mississippi has no reciprocal agreements with any state. If you live elsewhere and work in Mississippi, your employer withholds Mississippi tax only on wages for work performed inside the state, prorated by your Mississippi-earnings ratio. Military spouses covered by the MSRRA can claim exempt on line 8 of Form 89-350.

City and county taxes and minimum wages in Mississippi (2026)

Local income tax: none. No city, county, or school district in Mississippi levies an income or payroll tax on employees. The individual income tax is imposed only by the state under Miss. Code § 27-7-5, and Pub 89-700 provides for state withholding only. Jackson, Gulfport, Southaven, Hattiesburg, and Biloxi all sit at 0%. Local governments raise money through property tax and locally authorized sales and tourism taxes — never through your paycheck.

Local minimum wage: none. No Mississippi municipality sets its own minimum wage, so the federal $7.25 applies from the Gulf Coast to DeSoto County. A full-time job at $7.25 grosses $15,080 a year — below the $18,300 a single filer can earn before any Mississippi tax applies, so a minimum-wage worker's only deductions are federal income tax and FICA.

How Mississippi compares with its neighbors (take-home on $60,000, 2026 est.)

Mississippi sits between no-tax Tennessee to the north and three neighbors that all tax wages. At $60,000 the Mississippi state bite is $1,668 — and it is the only figure in the table that is scheduled to fall every year through 2030 by statute.

FAQ